This invention relates to light reflective structures for attachment to horticultural lamps to improve plant growth. The new light reflector structure extends below a horticultural lamp to reflect light emitted from the lamp that travels to areas not under the lamp to return back under the lamp for increased intensity of light at elevations beneath the lamp.
Lamp or light sources with structures to improve light effectiveness for plant growth at elevation levels of a plant below the top leaf structure have been developed. Many of these focus on the use of the light emitting device itself, for example, the use of light emitting diodes of selected wavelengths that may penetrate the upper level leaf structure of a plant to cause light incidence on lower leaf structure for photosynthesis.
The lamps generally known for plant growth applications usually have an enclosure that may be dome or hood shaped with a light bulb or light source positioned in the enclosure to direct light downwardly onto the top of plants positioned below the lamp. The enclosure may have reflective material or coating on interior surfaces to further reflect light out of a bottom opening of the enclosure. Apparatus for plant culture may also be known wherein a plant is completely enclosed in a housing with light sources mounted on the housing to project onto the enclosed plant. This may be inefficient for mass plant growth in situations where one light illuminates several plants.
The use of light emitting lamps for plant growth generally positions the light emitting device in an enclosure that is closed with an open bottom that may be closed by a transparent or glass panel. Such lamps are then positioned over the plant to be grown. This arrangement is not efficient for plants that principally grow vertically with multiple levels of leaf structure since the leaves further from the lamp and below upper level leaves will receive reduced light intensity. Therefore, there is a need for a light reflector structure that is attachable to horticultural lamps to reflect light emitted from a lamp that would radiate into the environment rather than onto the plant. A light reflective structure that when attached to a lamp has subtending reflective panels positioned at proper angles to redirect lamp emitted light onto a plant at levels below the upper leaf level of a plant would increase the efficiency of plant growth. The lamp with light reflector structure can be adjusted in height as a plant grows thereby allowing close proximity of the light source to a plant.